Tonsil instrument



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

' I-RA IVARREN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TONSILl INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,434, dated January 17, 1854.V

T all whomrt may concern Be itknown that I, IRA VARREN, of Bosvton, inthe county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a newand use use for the excision of these enlarged and diseased glands,which was called the guillotine tho-ugh more effective than the meanspossessed before was liable to several object-ions. Cutting as it didfrom one side of the land to the other, the membranous folds lying aboutthe base of the tonsil, were` oftentimes pushed between-the plates andleft uncut, the tonsil was thus left hanging down the throat, nearlystrangling the patient and requiring to be subsequently sepa rated byother means.

My invention consists in the employment of ltwo crescent shaped blades,which when opened, leave a sufficient space to allow the tonsil to bedrawn between them, and which commence cutting around the wholecircumference of the tonsil, and from thence to its center, thusinsuring the complete excision of the gland at one operation.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention VI willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure l is a representation of the instrument heretofore in use for thepurpose, called the guillotine. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same; Fig.3, a perspective View of my instrument; Fig. 4, a view of one .of

the blades with the crescent shaped cutters. Fig.,5 is the lower guardor plate which confines and guides the blades; Fig. 6, the upperl guardor confining plate; Fig. 7, the nuts and screws by which the blades andguards are secured together, the pin serving as the pivot by which thetenaculum is made capable of a universal motion.

In Figs. l and 2 a is the upper, b the lower guard. c is the knife whichis made to slide between the guards and is operated by the handle CZ,Both the upper and lower guards are terminated by a fiat ring f, Fig. l.This end Vof the instrument was placedA over the gland to be cut out andgently pressed untill the gland pro-truded through or into the spacewithin the ring. The knife was then pushed forward, and the portion ofthe glands above the rings of the guards was separated. It was foundhowever that as the cutting commenced at the base upon one side of thegland, kand terminated at the opposite side that 'the surfaceymembranes,

whichremained last to be cut instead of'be-V lng separated were drawn.into the space between the knife and guard.` This was a seriousobjection to the instrument, as it often happened that severalsuccessivecuts were not suflicient to separate the tonsil entirely fromthe mouth, and the operation which was thus but limperfectly'performedgave both pain and uneasiness to the patient. In the absence of thetenaculum or some means gland was simply shoved, andthe gland .itselfnot being vremoved was liable to be-.

come again enlarged and soon'require a7 repetition of the operation. Allthese causes of uncertainty and unnecessary pain are avoided in theinstrument which Iv have contrived for thepurpose and which isrepresented in Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive. l

The construction and operation of my cutters are peculiar and I believedifferentfrom anything heretofore in use for the purpose; they may be,described as follows:

g are the body of the blades which are pivoted at e in a manner similarto that in which scissor blades are hung. n Y

la vare the handles and the crescent shaped cutters. n

d Fig. 5 is the lowerlguard having side 'anges Z and projecting lips m.

`the blades turn. y v

The crescentic cutters it when opened are concealed between the guards,the flanges l limiting their motion in this direction. In the act ofclosing they pass each other as seen in Fig. 3 and sever whatever isbetween them. The pivot p 'is also made the socket of a smaller shaft orpin o which serves to secure the forceps represented in Fig. 3- to theinstrument; these forceps are furnished with handles s and claws t, theoperation of which will be presently described, by virtue of thecombined movement of the forceps upon the pivot and pin o, they arerendered capable of? a universal motion around their point of attachmentto the instrument.

Operation: The tenaculum or forceps be ing securedto the body oftheinstrument as described the blades are opened so that they lie concealedbetween the upper and lower guard platesthe rings o 0y are then pressedslightly upon the tonsil which isfseized by the claws tof the tenaculumby which it is drawn sufficiently far through the rings of the guardplates and held firmly: the crescentic blades are then closed and thegland is instantly removed.

As before stated where the old instrument is used themembranous folds atthe base of lthe gland upon the side opposite to thatV last to be out,from which result the disagreeable consequences before enumerated. Whrethe cutting commences as it'does in my `instrument all around the baseof the The crescent shaped blades, constructed and operating in a mannersubstantiallyas described, and for the purposes set forth.

` IRA WTARREN.`

Witnesses:

CONSTANT BROWNE, HENRY WARREN.

